Oregon's most unexpected gubernatorial candidate? A pencil with a point

"“My name is Pencil,” the pencil told an attendee, pressing a flyer into her hand. “I'm running for governor because we need to raise awareness about education.” “You're running as a pencil or a person?” the surprised woman asked. “As a pencil.” Picture a smiling office supply store mascot: Pointy lead tip just above its bespectacled face. Big yellow barrel of a body. Pink eraser down around the knees. That's Pencil, Oregon's most unlikely gubernatorial candidate this year."

"And Pencil is running against them all, asking voters to skip voting for any Republican or Democrat and instead write “Pencil” on their ballots. It's an absurd request — with a very sharp point. Oregon fourth-graders rank dead last in reading, according to one prominent analysis of national testing. It's Pencil's mission to alert as many voters as they can to that alarming stat."

"“This is an indictment of the people who are running our state,” said J. Schuberth, the person behind and inside the pencil. “[Democrats] have had a supermajority, or close to it, for a long time. That's who is determining education policy.” Schuberth is a former college professor and longtime literacy advocate who has grown increasingly alarmed as Oregon falls behind other states."

"After years of watching what they believe are misguided attempts to alter course, Schuberth built the pencil costume earlier this year and began campaigning. Pencil's prospects To state the obvious, Pencil will not be Oregon's next governor. The state's constitution contains no provis"

A downtown Saturday farmer’s market in Portland features a six-foot-tall talking pencil named Pencil, who hands out flyers and says he is running for governor to raise awareness about education. Pencil asks voters to skip voting for any Republican or Democrat and instead write “Pencil” on their ballots. The campaign centers on Oregon fourth-graders ranking dead last in reading in a prominent national analysis. The candidate’s creator, J. Schuberth, says education policy has been shaped by long-standing Democratic control and that this has contributed to Oregon falling behind other states. Schuberth, a former college professor and literacy advocate, built the costume earlier this year and began campaigning after growing alarmed.

Read at www.npr.org